Copyright Gavan Rowe (c)
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Quote of the day:
"May you be in heaven half an hour
before the devil knows you’re dead."
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MORRIS PUBLISHING AUSTRALIA
- GUEST PUBLISHER
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G'day guys,
I will continue to introduce a variety of people and organisations on this blog. Today I welcome my first guest publisher - Morris Publishing Australia - Elaine Ouston and Lou Morris. Elaine has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing and is an experienced editor. She teaches writing to adults in her home town and edits for other writers all over Australia. Elaine has a passion for good writing, especially for children. She tours schools talking about writing and her books to encourage the next generation of writers. Lou is an accountant and financial adviser who looks after the financial side of the business and, as an avid reader, assists with the selection of manuscripts.
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Morris Publishing has achieved great things in a short space of time. They now have 11 authors in their stable, including yours truly, and the list is growing. Many of them have been writing for years and have won awards for their work. Who are they? Let's take a look.
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George Ivanoff
George Ivanoff is a writer and stay-at-home dad residing in Melbourne, Australia. He has written over 60 books for kids and teens, including novels, chapter books, short story collections, school readers and reference books. He has books on both the Victorian and NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge booklists and has won a Chronos Award for speculative fiction. He is best known for his Gamers series of novels — science fiction adventures set within a computer game world.
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In past lives, he has worked in a comic book shop, in an office, in a market research call centre, as a pamphlet distributor, and as a web development consultant. These days he mostly sticks to writing… although he has been known to occasionally moonlight as an actor. George has two cats, two kids, and one wife. He says, ‘They put up with me, and I am very content.’
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Darryl Greer
Darryl Greer is a lawyer and lives with his wife in the Gold Coast hinterland. He began to write seriously a few years ago. Before that, he had a number of published articles to his credit but the real love of his life now is novel writing, mainly thrillers and crime/mystery/suspense novels.
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Late in 2009 he published The Election, details of which can be found on his website www.darrylgreer.com.
Apart from writing, he enjoys walking, swimming, travel, theatre, cinema, reading - thrillers of course - and says he can still pen a song and play a decent tune on the guitar.
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Hettie Ashwin
Hettie has been published widely published in America, United Kingdom and Australia in magazines and on line. The publications include, “A Prisoner of Memory: And 24 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories by Ed Gorman (Editor), Martin H Greenburg (Editor), Six Sentences and other anthologies.
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On line and magazine credits include, Skive, The Outpost, The Yellow Room, Ripples Magazine, Linnet Wings, Artgaze Magazine, and the Queensland Writers Centre magazine with a humorous take on places to write.
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Jennifer Crane
"I started writing when I became a full time stay at home Mum, not because I had time on my hands, because I didn’t, but rather to keep my brain active and thinking of something other than the daily rushing around. It was a chance to escape into another world for a while, like reading, but I was doing the creating.
The first acknowledgment of my work was a Commended Award from The Victorian Cancer Council 2008 Art Awards for my poem ‘A Writer’s Words’. In the same year I published my memoir, ‘Spillover’, about the death of my horse to Hendra Virus. My children’s short story ‘My Reward’ was shortlisted for the Charlotte Duncan award in 2010 and I have had two children’s short stories published on Australian Women online, ‘Super Flower Power’ in 2011 and ‘Told’ in 2012.
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I grew up on an orchard and I gave up the art of ballet for horses, going on to compete in dressage and eventing and dabbling in Endurance riding, although I still love the theatre. Horses got into my blood and a highlight was seeing the 2000 Olympic dressage and show jumping competitions in Sydney."
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Dimity Powell
Dimity is an experienced writer and presenter. Since completing her formal study in writing, she has had a short story accepted in The NSW School Magazine and won many special mentions, top ten placings, and
commendations for her short stories and picture books.
She is an active presenter to children's groups in schools and libraries. Her children's book, PS Who Stole Santa's Mail, is her first published work, but I'm sure it won't be her last.
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Melissa Wray
"I grew up in Geelong and then moved to North Queensland with my family when I was 14. When I started writing it was more of a hobby for me. I enjoyed creating stories and then I started to become addicted to writing more and more! I write because it gives me the freedom to create a world of make believe with enough reality thrown in to make it believable.
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Destiny Road is my first published novel and I am very proud of it. I was never able to say thank you to my dad for saying yes when I asked could I live with him. He passed away several years ago and it has always bothered me that I could not get those words out before he died. Now with Destiny Road I feel like I have said them, so hopefully he knows."
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Kim Stedman
Kim lives on the outskirts of Perth, Western Australia at the base of the Darling Ranges. At 62 he’s had several demanding career paths including military service, working "on air" in radio and as a financial planner. His country roots provided a fertile learning ground. Even at an early age his aptitude for math was apparent. His passions include taking the seeds of ideas and making them a reality and coaching others in core disciplines of personal improvement.
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His diversified interests include a passion for preserving heritage and history as well as the integrity of the environment and rural communities. As a grandfather he takes a deep interest in his grandchildren. Saying being around them keeps his thinking young; and that they are our future leaders. Kim's very strong sense of self identity stems from strong family ties and the examples of the generation who experienced both the great depression and World War II. With a background of military service, an ‘on air’ radio career that spanned fourteen years, and a financial planning career spanning fifteen years, he has experienced the responsibility and commitment of providing quality service to others.
Writing was inspired by the poetry of his late father and encouraged by his widowed mother. This was further enhanced in copy writing as a part of his radio career. His first book, ‘The Road Home’, was a compendium of poetry penned in the early 1990's was published in 1997. It is being revised to become a motivational work. Currently Kim is working on his first novel exploring the impact of war on the lives of girls and women.
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Stephen Anastasi
Stephen Anastasi the writer arrived suddenly and fully formed in 1992 in Charleville Queensland, in front of a computer screen. He is not able to say with certainty whether it was his stories that brought him into existence, or he that brought them into existence. Like Roald Dahl, one day he had an idea for a story, he sat down and began to write. Time passed without measure and mysteriously an adventure came to exist, in his case between the zeroes and ones that colour his hard disk - in Dahl’s case, in the soft blackness of a hotel pencil.
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Stephen regularly slips out of his writing space and falls into a world where there are teachers and students of science and mathematics. There, he does his best to make students believe that to a sufficiently advanced mind, physics, mathematics and magic are nearly indistinguishable. Occasionally a student gets it—sees the greater reality—and goes electric with understanding. Stephen likes to think that these students will carry a torch to others.
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Elaine Ouston
Elaine lives in Central Queensland, Australia. She has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing. She edits for writers all over Australia and teaches writing to adults in Rockhampton. After a career as a graphic artist, copywriter, and marketing consultant, she retreated from the rat race and turned to her longtime dream of writing children and young adult fiction. The first book in the series, The Mystery of Nida Valley is her latest. The second book in this series is to be released in May 2012.
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She is also working on a YA fantasy. Her previous publications include a short story, A Close Call, published in the NSW School Magazine, Countdown, a column in Writing Queensland magazine and a children’s chapter book, Lost in a Strange Land, published in America by CreateSpace and in Australia by Morris Publishing. The first book in her next series, Barben’s Magic Quest, is to be published in 2012.
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Kathleen O'Dwyer
Kathleen grew up at the base of the beautiful Darling Ranges in the outskirts of Perth Western Australia and was the second child of five, the eldest daughter of a talented artistic mother and a father with a mathematical genius who worked in the Public Service. She went on to get her teaching degree, graduating in 1973. She taught over a 30 year span, touching many lives in a positive way. With an exceptionally enquiring mind she has a variety of interests, some of which are, alternative healing modalities, environmentalism, psychology, anthropology, sociology and organic gardening.
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Her desire to be a full time mother had her financially challenged for over a decade, yet by using her innate skills to simplify, organise and plan, she maintained control over her finances and led a happy yet simple life. She is now passing on to anyone who needs it, the skills and strategies she learnt during this time.
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Clancy Tucker
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Clancy writes young adult fiction for reluctant readers but has also achieved success as a poet and photographer. He has lived in four countries, speaks three languages, has photography accepted and published in books in the USA (Innocent Dreams, Endless Journeys & A Trip Down Memory Lane), used as covers for magazines (‘The Australian Writer’ - 2008 &‘Victorian Writer' - 2008), has work registered with the International Library of Photography, published in literary magazines, and has written more than 145 short stories.
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Book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPVEpan_Yxk&feature=youtu.be
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Clancy Tucker trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B72Rd8IMN2I&feature=youtu.be
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He has been short-listed and highly commended in writing contests: 2006, 2007 AND 2012 National Literary Awards, Raspberry & Vine (twice), Positive words, Australian Writers On-Line, Shaggy Sheep Tale, The Cancer Council Arts Awards (2005 & 2008), The Dusty Swag Awards (2010) and had ten short stories published in literary magazines (Page Seventeen, Branching Out & Positive Words), newspapers (The Standard, Mountain Views & The Advocate, Eyes and Ears), written articles for Kid Magazine in the USA and won a poetry prize to name a life-size statue designed by renowned Belgian sculptor, Bruno Torfs. In 2010, he was awarded a two-week mentorship by the National Education & Employment Foundation. He is now a full time writer and blogger but has been a speechwriter, public servant, farmer, and small business operator. Clancy has worked with street kids and draws on life’s experiences to write entertaining stories for kids.
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Clancy's comment: Morris Publishing Australia are fantastic to deal with. Elaine Ouston is switched on and proactive. Check out this document which she recently produced to promote her stable of authors.
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